


lifeguard

by pressq



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, But he really does, Everyone Is Gay, Flirty Na Jaemin, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden Love, Friends to Lovers, Friendzone, Hatred, High School, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Minor Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Polyamory, Slow To Update, Trust Issues, and renmin becomes his friends bc they warm up to him and he warms up to them back, but get friendzoned, but he's a happy gay now, chenle is Loud, he doesnt know his secret so like, including everyone else, jaemin is heartbroken, jeno is a panicked gay, jeno still does have trust issues, like they're best friends, mark is jeno's only friend he trusts, mermaid au, ok so jeno is the only mermaid here, renjun is the type to say they dont need relationships, renmin are high school students, soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressq/pseuds/pressq
Summary: "so let me get this straight, you're a mermaid—like an actual mermaid?"





	1. jeno

000423

 

"mother, do i really have to go to the surface?" the teenager boy—or merboy asked the mother after he finished choking up on his seaweed paste cake when he was informed. his dark orbs held many swirling emotions, mainly confusion and anxiousness. he was only sixteen and he didn't feel ready to drag himself to the surface, yet.

"honey, you have to. what if one day you need to live on the surface—now don't panic, i'm just saying! plus, i'm sure it'll be fun making some friends on the surface. although you might have to get adjusted to walking..." the young looking merwoman with brown, silky hair trailed off. she looked very young for her age even though she's around forty years old.

"i- but- what if something happens to me while i'm at the surface?" he asked with a hint of panic in his voice. the surface can't be that bad but he was afraid something will actually happen to him and he didn't want to die before he even got the chance to do something exciting in his life. the mother sighed and took his hand in hers, warmth seeping through making the son calm. "jeno, i assure you that nothing will happen to you. i'll come with you for the first few days and once you've got the hang of it, i'll visit occasionally."

jeno nodded and silently ate his seaweed paste cake. it was a sweet taste he had always love and he knew that he will surely miss this homemade paste cake once he's at the surface. he sighed and imagined what it'll be like to live as a human. he had seen the life of humans by glances but had never experienced it before. besides having two legs and having the ability to walk, he wondered what else humans do. do they do the same thing as his kinds do? many questions flooded his head with each questions piling up as another appear. he was distracted by his thoughts and ate his paste cake in peace, wondering about the surface, maybe the kind humans above? it wouldn't hurt to try to befriend them, right? 

"since we have gotten the basics down," his mother started again after she finished her paste cake. the merboy looked up from his plate with the fork still in his mouth as he chewed on the paste cake, "there's one other thing i didn't mention."

"yes?"

"you can't fall in love with a human." 

 


	2. renjun

000323

 

everything was normal for the chinese boy. it was a perfect afternoon with the birds softly chirping out of the window and the golden afternoon rays flood into his room. it was the perfect natural lighting for his room as he painted on the white canvas with warm colors. nothing bad had happened in his life besides being mocked for being "a gay" at school. renjun didn't know how people knew that he was gay, he never told anyone. but it was okay, they didn't do anything worse besides throwing crumpled paper balls at him. he chose to ignore them by giving them the cold shoulder because they were homophobes and shitty people. it really didn't stop him from continuing on with his colorful world full of paint and sketches.

he never had any friends in china besides chenle, but he moved to korea when he was seventeen and they only communicated through calls. it wasn't enough because both of them are busy to even call each other. he felt lonely despite his parents being there for them sometimes. but it wasn't enough. they would be always busy with work at their company to support the household. he understood and wasn't the child to mope around because their parents are working their asses off to earn money. his life was peaceful either way until his parents came home early while he was practicing his ballet to wait for his painting to dry.

"renjun, do you mind if you can come to sit with your dad and i?" his mom opened the door to his room after knocking gently. renjun quirked his eyebrows and turned the music off. strange. his parents never came home early  _and_ tell him to sit with them after they come home. he only sat with them if they come home to dinner or if he even have breakfast and lunch together with them. he checked the time and it was seven pm.

"no, i don't mind," he replied.

after he came downstairs and in the dining room, he saw his mom setting cups of warm tea on the table. there was tension in the air and the chinese boy didn't know why. he sat himself down and took the cup of warm tea. he gently blew on it and sipped a little. once his mom sat down on the wooden chair, she looked at her husband wearily. renjun looked at the both of them as if they're having a conversation with their eyes. his dad then cleared his throat and broke eye contact with his mom.

"your mom and i have something to tell you," he gave a hard stare at renjun as if he is debating whether to say what he's going to say or not. the brunette nodded as if it's a sign for his dad to continue on.

"you have to leave the house and go to korea."

the brunette looked at both of his mom and dad. he was confused. did he do something wrong? why does he need to leave? he already knew that his parents loved him despite being gay. his mom knew he was in internal distress so she held his hand in hers.

"renjun, what your dad is trying to say is... you have to move out. i... it's not like we don't love you or anything. we love you very much. but it's just... before you came out to us, we applied for our jobs at a company that provides enough money for us to support you and the house. but the company have gotten suspicious of us for supporting gay people and such and ever since the slip up of one of our coworkers having a lesbian child. people at the company are serious about keeping their reputation and refuse to let any clients who are gay or have gay children and more. we can't possibly lose this job because they'll put this in our record and we won't be able to apply for other jobs. we need the money for all of us, but mostly for you. they'll be checking on every clients' houses and have interviews. i hope you understand, you know people are very not opened about this kind of stuff. i'm sorry- we're sorry, w-we could've been better parents for you-" his mom broke down into sobs after going on about the company. his dad held her other hand and rubbed soothing circles on her hand as she cried.

renjun can only watch his mom breaking down and his dad trying to keep her from breaking down even more. yes, he understood their current situation but he felt bad. he felt bad to come out as a homosexual to his parents and putting burdens on him. of course, he could've straight up lied that he's straight during the interview, but his parents have also explained that they will be suspicious either way because it was a possibility he's gay just because his parents support lgbtq+.

it was okay, his parents still love him either way. he didn't mind at all but he was slightly devastated he had to move away from his parents.


	3. jaemin

000813

 

"let's break up."

jaemin looked at his girlfriend in shock. they have been together for three years and she decided to break up with him? why? was he not good enough? he held her hands in his but all he felt were coldness. freezing ice shards stabbing through his warm hands in contrast. he looked at her in the eyes that looked indifferent.

"w-why? did i do something...?" the anxious boy asked, his voice wavering, trying to stay stable. the cold, petite hands he held pushed his hands away, pushed his warmth away. "yoomi, please, tell me what i did wrong. m-maybe i can fix myself-"

"you're just too boring for me," the chestnut haired girl cut him off calmly. she checked her nails that were painted in a shiny pink nail polish as if this breakup was normal for her. jaemin watched her and it felt like his insides stopped functioning, specifically his heart. didn't his girlfriend love her? he gave her gifts and plenty of kisses and showered her in affection. was he that boring to her? is that why she's breaking up with him? 

"i- we don't have to do this, right? i-i can change for you-" the black haired boy was interrupted once again by yoomi.

"you don't need to. either way, you'd be boring, too bland. you do the same thing over and over again without changing something or two, it's just all the same. and you're crippled with that back condition of yours," yoomi stated and each word were sharp knives into his already damaged heart. maybe it was true after all. he thought she was different from everyone and it was a love at first sight. she cared for him by personality but he guessed it was just all an act. what pained him more was how she's breaking up with him because he also had a back condition. it's not like he was permanently crippled, he was discharged from the hospital and he felt much better but the fact he was labeled as "crippled" hurt him.

but he wasn't surprised. he wore nerdy glasses, had boring black hair, wore bland clothes, and never did anything exciting. his girlfriend was right. he  _is_ boring.

 

he didn't need her though.

 

the fact she faked everything and pretended to care for him felt like a betrayal.

 

 

once his girlfriend—now ex-girlfriend—left, he went to his room and broke down into tears. he didn't feel like eating or even do anything. all he could do is cry himself to sleep.


	4. one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "hell no, i'm passing the offer," renjun scooted away from the younger who was pouting with his slightly chapped lips jutted out, tears threatening to fall from his glassy eyes.
> 
> "come on, it won't be that bad since i'll be there," donghyuck earned a look from the older, "and plus, i don't want to be alone with him who'll look like a kicked puppy."

exams.

 

one word that renjun truly despised. it's not like he's a dumb person that came from the dumpsters, he's especially smart in all subjects and he won't have any problems in any of the exams that he'll be taking this week. the only reasons he truly hated exams to the point he wants to burn them down—including the school—is he is the type of person who would stress over shit even if it's not that big of a deal; drinking coffee practically every night and all-nighter until it's already six in the morning and drink more coffee throughout the day, study his ass off while he does that, and he barely gets sleep if he is too stressed, and stress his ass off. to top it off, he also has his shift every afternoon from after he finished school to seven pm. pretty stressful; for him but he needed money, he couldn't just rely on his friends. speaking of friends, the door of the cafe opened with the sound of the bell ringing. renjun looked over from the counter and saw the familiar bubblegum pink haired boy and the brunette with several colors in his slightly curly hair. oh, those shitheads again.

"what's up bitch," the brunette sashayed his way over to an empty booth of the cafe, which was in the far corner near the windows. the blonde rolled his eyes and his lips pursed up slightly in amusement from the younger's usual behavior. the pink haired boy followed him with skips in his steps.

"since it's your break time, what should we do??" jaemin slouched over the table and played with the strands of his soft, pink hair after taking a seat in the cushioned booth. the action made renjun watch him, not being able to tear his eyes away from the boy for some reason. donghyuck, on the other hand, was on his phone, possibly scrolling through his social media to catch updates on the shit of what he calls it, "tea." renjun really has no idea what's with him, but he let him be him. after the chinese boy finished cleaning the counter and checking the cash register, he came and sat down with the two boys in the booth. he still had his light brown apron on since he was lazy to take it off.

"well, i don't know? i mean we usually play uno when you shits come on my break time," the blonde replied and rested his chin on the palm of his hand and looked at the pink haired boy.

the brunette snorted and rolled his eyes, "gee thanks, i thought you loved us-"

"surprise bitch, i don't."

after a few minutes of bickering between the two friends, the cafe was engulfed in silence again but in a comfortable silence between the three friends. to simply put it, renjun was too exhausted to talk, jaemin was still thinking of other ways to pass time besides playing uno, and donghyuck was on his phone once again. usually, all three would play uno but a certain someone—jaemin—forgot to bring his pack of uno cards. but mostly, the game would turn out with donghyuck screaming when renjun would either skip his turn or call every fucking uno. a thought had come to renjun's mind and he glanced at the two boys who are sitting across from him.

"since we have nothing to do, how about we study for our exams?"

"who the fuck do you think i am?" donghyuck scowled at the older and going back to his phone and possibly smiling at something which the other can't pinpoint. jaemin looked at donghyuck and then at renjun.

"well, i'm too lazy to study for the exams. my brain cells died and someone else is occupying the brain cell. my iq dropped lower than a slut drop so like-" jaemin rambled on until renjun shushed him.

"christ, you people are gonna kill me one day and don't come crying to me that you failed the exams-"

"ah, how bold of you to assume," jaemin retorted and interrupted the older boy. "i've failed a few tests anyway."

 

ˠˠˠ

 

jeno groaned and rubbed his face. he was damn tired and questioned why schools have to start early.

after spending years at his old hellhole, he finally got to move to another high school once he had told his mother about stuff going on at school. his mother felt horrible that she never knew that kids at his old school and high school bullied him for being "weird." obviously, they immediately moved to another part of seoul and his mother enrolled him to star music academy, hopefully a bit better than the last.

he was currently in his junior years, a year away to graduate from high school. he couldn't wait to go back home. one he had gotten out of bed, he lazily went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, wash his face, and take a nice, warm shower. at first, he thought that he would struggle to live as a normal human being because he had to shower to avoid bad odor and such but thanks to his mother, she had given him an ordinary looking bracelet for him to wear. to regular humans, it would look like a normal, expensive bracelet, but it was a special bracelet with a charm on it to prevent him from turning into his true form if a single drop of water were to touch his bare legs. well, that's how it works to the mermaid species. since they do live in the sea, it's no wonder they still have their tails but if they're dry, they morph into human-like legs ever since their generation has involved. so this bracelet basically saved his life since it would be a pain to suddenly have your legs turn into a tail on rainy days.

once he was done showering, he grabbed a fluffy towel and wrapped it around his waist before going to his closet to find his school uniform that was ordered about a week ago.

 

after changing and eating a small breakfast—which was an apple and milk—he wore his shoes and swung his backpack over his shoulder before going out the door and locking it. the cool breeze brushed against his tinted cheeks, he loved the feeling of it. it calmed him. he put the keys that are attached to silver chains around his neck and tucked it inside his shirt as he walked to school. his new school wasn't that far so he should be fine, maybe arriving around thirty minutes early. his fifteen-minute walk was quiet and calm but he wished he can be underwater by now, racing his friends to get to school first. jeno sighed and looked up at the pastel blue and pink sky.

speaking of which, how will his first day at his new high school go?

"well, barnacles," he muttered under his breath. his feet continued walking until he reached to school. to be honest, the school looked prestigious than the previous one and there were a few students entering the building. he walked through the excessively enormous gate that had the logo of the school in golden letters. the school itself also had a giant clock perfectly in the center at the top and it made the brunette question how do people hang the clock up. he then entered the building and looked around. the school was huge and spacious and it looked like it had about two to three floors.

it already made him feel nauseous that there were a lot of classrooms in each hallway. first of all, he was pretty sure that he's lost, second, he didn't know where the office was. he felt someone bumped into him followed by a small 'oof.' he turned to the direction of the noise and saw a boy with black hair who was on the floor—practically kissing the floor—and he looked a little disheveled. the brunette watched the boy get up by the support of his arms and groaned, more like in pain after kissing the shiny, wooden floor. must've hurt.

"are you- are you okay?" jeno quietly asked the black haired boy who was patting his nose to get rid of the pain even though it wouldn't help.

"yeah, i'm fine. sorry for bumping into you," the boy grinned sheepishly. jeno studied the boy from head to toe. he was tall but jeno was three centimeters taller than him. he had black hair that was parted to the left and he had seagull like eyebrows. before he weirded out the other, he tore his eyes away and looked at the floor as a habit whenever he gets shy or awkward around new people. he wasn't the only one studying because he felt sharp eyes study him from head to toe.

"oh yeah, are you new here? i've never seen you here before," the seagull boy snapped his fingers.

"i... guess? i'm just lost and trying to find the office..." the brunette's voice trailed off due to nervousness. it was his first time holding a basic conversation without getting called weird or having the person walk away.

"oh, really? i can show you where the office is and maybe i can help you with your classes as well," the response made jeno slightly giddy, it was so weird to finally have someone help him out compared to the kids at his old school who would bully him or just ignore him. both of the boys started walking to the office as they chattered, but mostly the black haired boy held most of the conversation. the brunette heard the other gasp in realization followed by the sound of a hand slapping a face.

"oh god, i'm stupid. i haven't even introduced myself to you. sorry man, i'm forgetful sometimes," the black haired boy suddenly said. he then sighed, "well, anyways. i'm mark, mark lee from canada."

the boy named mark offered his hand to shake with a smile and jeno hesitantly shook his hand, "lee jeno."

"lee jeno, huh?" mark's smile grew even wider.

 

for some reason, jeno felt like they will have a close bond.

 

ˠˠˠ

 

"let's play the wii!" jaemin rolled off the couch and started to set up the wii and remote controls. since the trio had finished studying for their exams—renjun forcing knowledge into their empty brains—they had free time. renjun sighed and shook his head at the younger in disappointment as donghyuck watched in amusement.

"what do you guys wanna play? there's wii sports resort, super mario bros, mario kart, kirby's return to dreamland, mario kart-"

"i wanna play wii party," donghyuck interrupted jaemin who glared at him. the oldest of the three sighed again, more like in distress.

"we don't even have wii u and neither does jisung, hyuck," renjun scrolled through his phone, brainstorming with all the knowledge he has including hogging all the brain cells which the two don't have.

the multi-colored brunette looked at him as if he was looking down on him, "you could've at least been the one buying the wii u, junnie."

"shut the fuck up i'm broke, okay."

in the end, all three have settled on playing mario kart which turned into absolute chaos. there was screaming, kicking, and sabotages everywhere and you can imagine the living room's condition by now. renjun was currently in first place while donghyuck and jaemin were in fifth and sixth. donghyuck was currently driving around the rainbow road as bowser jr and had gotten a blue shell out of an item box he had drove through.

"LEE DONGHYUCK YOU BETTER FUCKING NOT," renjun was halfway through his final lap and he had seen the younger get a blue shell from the other side of the screen.

"GET READY BITCH," the younger smirked, seeing that the older had used a mushroom to speed up even though it won't help him escape out of his grasp. his smirk fell and he instantly shrieked when princess peach, jaemin, had thrown a red shell at him as he was about to use his blue shell. "JAEMIN WHAT THE FUCKING HELL."

"sorry honey," jaemin winked at donghyuck who was infuriated and kicked him by the shoulder, making him lose balance. the chinese boy, on the other hand, was cackling and making turns until he could see the finish line, imagining his yoshi finally winning one race in versus mode.

"OH FUCK YOU I'M NOT LETTING THE FUCKING GREEN ASS DINOSAUR WIN," the korean had finally reached up to third place with the other at fourth. he accelerated his bowser jr, getting three red shells, knocking rosalina over with one shell that made him in second place now. he saved the two other shells for defense and for knocking yoshi with one. the yoshi came into his view and he used his red shell on it, knocking it over and slowing it down. this earned a tackle from renjun who slammed his body against his onto the floor so he wouldn't be able to take his win. he had successfully swerved bowser jr off the map and had been smacked by the younger who's under him.

"GET THE FUCK OFF-"

"NO FUCK YOU," renjun tried to drive his yoshi while keeping donghyuck down. but the two of them had forgotten about princess peach. jaemin was peacefully sitting as the two fought over for the finishing line and used the star on princess peach. in the end, he had won the race.

"that was eventful," jaemin calmly said.

"my only one win," renjun pouted and rolled off donghyuck who smacked him with his foot by the arm. it was an intense battle of mario kart and it made them waste their brain cells for two whole hours because of jaemin wanting to do balloon battle and renjun wanting to test out mission mode. also as well as doing multiple rounds of versus mode. they heard the door open and whipped their heads around, seeing jisung settling back in his own—now messy—apartment.

jisung—the youngest member of the four—hung his jacket on the stand and took a glance around the living room after putting his black sneakers on the rack. his eyes scanned around the room and had seen the mess the older boys have done. pillows were everywhere and one somehow ended up on the kitchen bar table, the couch was shifted and faced down, blankets were hanging from the ceiling somehow, and the boys were a bundle of mess. his face then morphed from confusion to absolute disappointment. "what the hell, did you guys play mario kart again?"

"jisungie~" not bothering to answer his question, jaemin got up and rushed over to the younger to give him a big fat hug and tugs on his mochi cheeks. jisung dodged the older's grasp and made his way to the kitchen to grab the pillow and chuck it into the living room. the pink haired boy pouted at him, not accepting his affections.

"no we were having a world war three," the sun-kissed boy rolled his eyes in a sarcastic way. the blonde then helped jisung with cleaning up after putting his black wii remote control on the coffee table that was somehow not damaged like the couch is. despite jisung being the youngest, it feels like he's the oldest and the mature one out of the four of them because he always walked in on messy shit that the older boys have caused. after cleaning up the living room back to its original state, the four boys sat on the couch with renjun grabbing snacks from the pantry in the kitchen. jaemin hogged most of the space on the couch and he was brainstorming the next activity they should do.

"what should we do now? i'm bored again," he sighed. renjun had come back with a plate of sandwiches and small bottles of different kinds of flavored milk, setting them on the coffee table and sat down between jisung and jaemin.

jisung reached out for a sandwich and munched on it, "well i mean i'm busy with my dance competitions so i'm not sure about you guys."

"aw, look at my proud baby," jaemin cooed at the younger who continued to eat his sandwich. an idea lit up in his small brain and he shot up. "i have a good idea!! how about we go swimming?"

"hell no, i'm passing the offer," renjun scooted away from the younger who was pouting with his slightly chapped lips jutted out, tears threatening to fall from his glassy eyes.

"come on, it won't be that bad since i'll be there," donghyuck earned a look from the older, "and plus, i don't want to be alone with him who'll look like a kicked puppy."

the last time they went swimming was at a beach over the summer. it was a normal day and they decided to have a dip in the water with an anxious-looking renjun. the chinese never had experiences in swimming but he was reassured by jaemin that he'll do just fine as long he has a floaty on him. well, he was wrong. when they were swimming and it was a few feet away from people, some jackass managed to knock renjun off his floaty forward and into the water. it wasn't like he was short but he was tumbling underwater doing a bunch of aerobatic shit and almost drowned without the help of donghyuck. the faint memory still made renjun regret his choices and possibly even more anxious which lead him to only swim in three feet pools.

"did you guys forget that i almost  _drowned_ the last time we went swimming?" the blonde scoffed. "and without donghyuck, i could've actually drowned."

"yeah but it was a person who made you fall out of your floaty," the pink haired boy interjected.

after half an hour of countless comebacks and arguments, renjun had given up on the fight and gave in. it wasn't because jaemin was constantly pouting that made his heart squeeze in uwu pain or donghyuck not giving a fuck about the fight, but if they were to continue arguing, it wouldn't end any time soon "fine, how about i come to the beach with you guys but i'll stay in the shade, sounds good?"

this earned a satisfied nod from the younger and it made the older's stomach do weird flips and turns which he didn't know why.

"not to burst your bubbles, but maybe you guys should go to the beach over the weekends because the exam weeks are pretty rough and cramped. and right now it's fifty degrees outside so at least be smart and go swim on warmer weathers like maybe this saturday or sunday," the youngest finally spoke and finished drinking his bottle of milk.

"damn, since when did our youngest baby become such a smartass?" the multi-colored brunette snorted and ruffled the other's hair, earning a whine that he messed up his hair.

 

ˠˠˠ

 

"um... are you sure about this?" jeno timidly asked as he watched mark go through part-time jobs on his laptop. they were currently in mark's comfortable dorm after their stressful exam week. jeno decided to stay over since there wasn't any point to stay at his house alone. the older boy looked up from his laptop and gave the other a grin.

"yup, after all, you might need the money to manage yourself and it's great to get ahead of yourself," he replied and continued to click through job applications.

they have currently spent over an hour trying to find a fitting job and for jeno, he was very much confused and unsure of what the older is doing. but he was more curious about how the laptop he was holding worked. it was a device that can work and display and you can interact with it just by the touch of this "mousepad." but he didn't want to question it and continued to observe mark. it took a while until mark had found a perfect part-time job and he made a noise as if he has a lit lightbulb.

"jen! i was wondering if you know how to swim?" he questioned the younger who then fiddled with his bracelet around his wrist.

"yeah, i have some experiences..." jeno slightly gulped. what kind of part-time job is he going to take? by the looks of it, he will probably take something water-related, something that involved swimming. mark nodded and showed his laptop screen to him.

"you can be a lifeguard at a beach on afternoons and it won't be that long just about three to four hours. this will be a perfect part-time job for you since you know how to swim and all of that stuff," he chuckled. a lifeguard, huh? the brunette thought to himself. well, it didn't seem that bad. although, he had to research on this kind of job or else his friend would think he's weird for not knowing what it is.

 

by night time, close to twelve am, jeno was borrowing mark's laptop that he had left on the coffee table. not wanting to break the precious device, he decided to keep it on the coffee table and to just sit on the floor. he was currently researching out in the lounge room as his friend was slumbering in their shared room. he knew how to use a computer—which took him a while to adjust to it—but he didn't know how to work with a laptop. the device was the same thing as a computer except you can carry it everywhere with you like in your laptop bag and such. when the confused brunette opened the laptop, he was met with a black screen.

"how do i... turn this on?" he muttered to himself and checked the laptop in all angles. back home, they would have big clam shells that worked like a computer would except you can physically interact with it without any sorts of technology. jeno touched the black screen with his forefinger, expecting the laptop to turn on by itself as the clamshell would. he sighed and ran a hand through his fluffy hair in distress. "perhaps there should be a button of some sort..."

he investigated the laptop again until he had found the power button. he remembered mark turning the laptop off by pressing the specific button after he was done using it, so he assumed that it would also turn the laptop on. he pressed on the power button and he was met with a welcome screen which displayed a group picture of what he assumed are his schoolmates in his music class and himself. the group picture looked about two years old because mark had pink hair and he had a soft looking face compared to now which he had sharp features. he resumed onto the welcome screen and it soon faded into the home screen with many displaying apps, software, and such. the boy looked through all of them and was confused which one will take him to search engines.

his eyes landed on an icon of a folder and it looked like it might lead him to his destination. he carefully dragged his finger across the mousepad and clicked on the folder. he didn't expect to have folders of pictures appear.

"oh gosh, i shouldn't snoop around in personal stuff," jeno quickly exited out of the folder and clicked the icon next to it that was in a circle shape with four different colors. once he had found the search engine he was looking for, he looked down at the keyboards and typed out his search. there were thousands of results and he clicked on the first one and began reading through.

 

it was now two in the morning and jeno grew tired because his eyes weren't able to focus on the laptop screen. he decided to save more of his researching later on today so he shut the laptop down with the power button and gently closed it. he climbed back on the couch and grabbed the closest blanket to him and threw it over his head. he instantly curled up into a ball on the couch and snuggled in the blankets for warmth, soon dozed off into his slumber.

when the sun rose up, golden rays of sunlight seeping through the windows of the dorm everywhere, mark woke up from his fresh eight hours of sleep, he slipped out of bed and wore his baby blue slippers and head straight to the lounge room. he was planning to compose music before he eats breakfast because composing music can be a pain in the ass if you do it at the last minute. he had experienced that once and ran with only two minutes of sleep.

once he was in the lounge room, he saw a pile of light brown hair resting on the arm of the couch, peeking from behind. he softly chuckled and trudged towards the furniture to see jeno who was asleep and curled up slightly into a ball, snoring softly. not only that, but he was also cuddling the fuzzy, white blanket that matched well with his hair color and half of his face was covered from the blanket.

"jen, wake up," mark gently spoke and ruffled the younger's hair which was already tousled in his sleep. the younger was dead asleep and it seemed as though he must've stayed up late for some reason. he decided to poke his cheek after pulling the blanket down but he got no response but a gentle snore. after a few minutes, jeno stirred and he slowly opened his eyes to see mark in front of him, crouching to his eye level but not too close.

"hyung? why are you up so early..." the sleepy boy mumbled in his raspy, morning voice.

"it's ten in the morning, jen. by the way, we'll be going in thirty minutes to apply for our part-time jobs."

after he had registered what the older have said, he nodded slightly and closed his eyes again to rest for a second before getting up and change into his fresh set of clothes and wash himself for the day.


	5. two

it was finally lunch time. clearly, jaemin's brain cells were almost gone when they had their exams—last exams to be exact—after from studying their asses off featuring renjun who kept lecturing everyone and held them where they are so they could get their work done. it's not like he had any brain cells but he had the visuals that had boys and girls to be whipped over. although, he sometimes wondered how he's managing to pass high school with the low brain power and the average grades he had. but in general, his head was tired of getting the education and his friends can agree on that. after the exams, he and the others had met at their usual lunch table in the far corner of the cafeteria while chattering and eating their lunches. it was a normal friday for them, to chill before going straight back to hell lessons before going home. 

"which house should we all meet up this saturday?" donghyuck munched on his small sandwich.

"how about renjun hyung's?" jisung, the youngest, drank juice from a bottle. jaemin ate some of his lunch with his chopsticks before agreeing with the youngest.

"yeah, how about at your house?" jaemin looked over at renjun who was eating the homemade lunch that he made for himself. the blonde was about to eat his chicken with the rice until he heard the shithead talking.

"but we already had a sleepover at my house though," the blonde deadpanned before eating his lunch.

"i don't want you guys to trash at my apartment  _again_!" the orange-haired boy whined out loud, clearly scarred from the last time they went over to his apartment, "you guys basically  _wrecked_ my home and i'm having none of that shit."

"watch your fucking language kid."

the pink haired boy sighed and stuck some rice in his mouth, chewing and swallowing it before talking again, "to be fair, donghyuck can't have us over since his parents are still fixing the clogged toilet issue and my house is currently being redesigned by my parents. so it has to be either you or jisung."

"i'd say it'd be fair if we crash over at renjun's. it's been a week or two ever since we went over to yours and we had recently gone over to jisung's," the colored brunette smirked at the chinese boy who threw daggers at him.

"okay, fuck you. fine, you guys can come over and shit all over my house," the boy rolled his eyes. "not like it'd matter anyway."

 

 

 

"...and that's all for today, have a good day."

after the english teacher finished his lesson for today's class, the bell then rang and kids rushed out of the classroom, wanting to go home. it took a few minutes for jaemin to wake up from donghyuck slapping his shoulder multiple times. jaemin stirred and finally woke up, lifting his head from his notebook he was sleeping on as a replacement for a pillow. he rubbed his eyes and looked at the large clock by the doorway, taking time to process that class had ended and they could finally go home.

"how the fuck did you even sleep through the bell? fucking christ, get some sleep and because of your sleepy ass, the others have left and they're waiting for us right now," donghyuck sighed and shook his head at the pink haired boy. 

"damn, not my fault i was bored from writing class and the fact i was up at three in the morning to study for the exams," the boy jabbed a finger at the brunette who scoffed. "besides, why would i be interested in writing a long ass essay for some novel that's at least sixty chapters long?"

"technically, it's seventy-three chapters lon-"

"whatever, same thing."

his response made the brunette snorted at the pink haired boy and he leaned against his own desk, waiting for his friend to pack up his books before meeting up renjun and jisung. once jaemin had packed up, he trailed behind donghyuck out of the classroom and to their lockers in the left hallway. by the time the two boys got to their lockers, they saw the other two boys waiting for them and a certain blonde who looked impatient as fuck.

"took you long enough, now hurry up before i change my mind," renjun had his arms crossed and an irritated look on his cute face 

"no need to be moody," donghyuck retorted, earning a kick to the shin.

jaemin, on the other hand, laughed at the little pettiness the two shared. after unlocking his locker with the combination he remembered in the back of his head as the two argued, he organized which books to take home to do his homework and which to leave in his locker. by the time he was done and shut his locker, he was dragged by donghyuck to catch up with the others because renjun had decided to leave them with jisung who was as confused. the four boys walked down the pavement as they held several conversations and most of them were about the schoolwork and the dance competition that was recently announced. jisung gained the most attention because of the topic ever since he told the others that he'll be entering the competition. the pink haired boy had pinched his cheeks and went on a full motherly rant that he would take everyone to the competition to watch him and cheer him on. ("my baby is growing up,  _ **oh my god**_ ," jaemin switched from korean to english out of nowhere and faked his sob. jisung struggled to get his grip off his cheeks once it started hurting. meanwhile, renjun and donghyuck continued walking, leaving the younger to suffer alone.) after they talked about jisung and had insights on the younger's schedule, they reached to the fourth street and had to go separate ways. the three, renjun, donghyuck, and jaemin, went the same path to their houses which were near each other on the same district. meanwhile, jisung had to go the opposite way to his apartment, but luckily his apartment wasn't that far.

the pink haired boy arrived in front of his pristine house after waving bye at the two boys. ("MEET US AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING!" donghyuck shouted from the distance and the other only shook his head.) he sighed out of exhaustion and fished out his house keys in his pocket and inserted it into the doorknob, twisting it open before putting the key back in his pocket and open the door. once he opened the door, the strong smell of paint hit his nostrils and he almost gagged. right, his parents were still repainting the house. he took his shoes off and pushed them onto the shoe mat to the side. a petite woman's head peaked behind the opening to the kitchen before fully revealing herself.

"i see that you're home, sugar!" the woman cheerfully said, her lips spreading into a sweet smile. perhaps, too sweet.

"and i see that you and dad are still... repainting the house?" the son looked at his mom who wore a painter uniform that had multiple colored paints splattered everywhere. a streak of yellow paint was also on her porcelain cheek, making her look twice as childish and young.

"yup! we just have to paint your room and it'll be done. do you have any plans with your friends over the weekend? it would be much easier rather than sitting in the house smelling the paint."

"yeah, i'll be leaving at seven. and is it alright if i can go to the beach with my friends?"

"of course, your dad and i won't mind anyway. do you want me to pack up your beach bag for tomorrow?"

the boy sighed at how kind and thoughtful his mom was, "sure, if you don't mind."

after having a small conversation, the woman left jaemin again, on her way to pack up her son's bag for tomorrow before continuing on painting the last room. since he didn't want to bother his parents, he decided to go to the spare room down the hall. it was an extra room that was painted in a pale yellow color. they hadn't used this spare room unless there were guests over somehow. he dragged his light school bag with him to the spare room before putting it next to the bed and collapsed on the white mattress. oh, how much he missed the feeling of the bed. speaking of which, should he do his homework? maybe later because he had important businesses to do; checking the group chat. he turned his phone on and opened the app, having at least twenty notifications.

 

**picking balls with chopsticks**

 

sunny d: so like im lazy to do my homework

sodiumin: same and i want to sleep since it's friday

brain cell: you guys are hopeless you know that right

sunny d: we've been knew ever since our mothers birthed us

parking lot: i'm surprised your mom hasn't given up on you

sodiumin:

sodiumin: she doesn't know-

brain cell: JAEMIN

sodiumin: LOOK

sunny d: ok anyway

sunny d: can we do our homework over at renjun's house tmr 

brain cell: sure why the fuck not but you guys better be productive

parking lot: hell i might be 100% productive

sodiumin: can't relate

sodiumin: but it's fine tho i have less homework maybe 2-3 assignments

sunny d: same

brain cell: by the way guys, make sure to bring your beach bags and all your shits by tomorrow after we're done doing our homework

parking lot: how nice of you hyung

 

 

 

once jaemin had closed his heavy eyes out of tiredness, it was already the next day. he woke up to the sound of something crashing rather than being woken up by the sound of birds chirping or the sunlight "blinding" his eyes like in those fanfictions. the crash, though, sounded rather  _loud_ and very concerning for the boy that made him throw himself off the bed and trudged out of the hallway slowly to investigate what the fuck was happening at an early time. when he got to the lobby of the house, he rubbed his eyes and saw a coffee table resting on its sides by the stairs and his parents trying to pick it back up.

"why are you guys up so early?" the boy yawned, obviously tired. he did catch the way his dad smiling sheepishly.

"to rearrange some things since we're done painting the house so it'll be no problem for you to go to your room. also, it's not that early. i mean, it's seven in the morning anyway."

"...okay i guess?"  he walked away back to the guest room he came from, too lazy to go to his room.

although, it felt like he was forgetting something. jaemin kept thinking and thinking even when he stepped back inside the spare room, lying back on the soft mattress. he grabbed his phone that lied next to his head and checked the time. seven o' clock in the morning. wait, it felt like he was having a deja vu. but that's what it hit him though: he was supposed to arrive at renjun's house by seven and he was surely  _late_. panic and stress ran through his bloodstreams and he rolled off the mattress, his bottom coming in contact with the hard floor harshly, making a thud sound and winced in obvious pain. he got back up and rushed out into the hallway to get to the bathroom to clean himself up while dropping his phone on the floor in the spare room in the process. "FUCK I'M LATE."

he rushed past his parents who watched him running around in the house in distress. by the time he got to the bathroom, he closed the door with his feet and grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste, aggressively brushing his teeth while turning the faucet on. he spat out the foam and quickly rinsed his mouth and cleaned his face up, trying not to choke on the water or even have it up his nostrils for how rushed he was. by now, he tried to get ready as fast as he could that he forgot to comb his disheveled looking hair. but he didn't really care though, he was late anyway. after doing so, he then rushed upstairs and to his room, finding any article of clothing he could wear for today. he ended up grabbing a white tee shirt and black skinny jeans. he grabbed his house keys by the ring and bit onto it so he could hold it while he was changing out of his used shirt and pants from last night. he quickly threw on the tee and zipped up the jeans then running downstairs to go to the spare room and get his school bag. he hoisted the bag onto his shoulders and snatched his phone from the floor and putting it in the back of his jean pocket, already on the run to the front door. jaemin slowed down to avoid crashing into the door and wore his sneakers but not without noticing a pale pink beach bag resting on the shoe mat. he realized that his mom had actually packed his things for him because thank god for her kind soul. he took the beach bag off the shoe mat and unlocked the door after grabbing the keys from where he bit onto the ring, rehooking his fingers on the key rings. 

"THANKS MOM, AND I'LL BE GOING NOW, BYE MOM BYE DAD," he yelled loud enough for his parents to hear him before he twisted open the door and ran out, shutting the door.

as the pink haired boy was running to the direction of renjun's house, he ran a hand through his cotton like hair in distress once again. his house was far away by feet and he would probably be dead by the time he reached to the elder's house. the run took about half an hour and he was already out of breath so he decided to stop in front of the fancy gates to catch his breath. he observed the building in front of him and it was a simple cream-colored house. the younger had made a mental note to himself to sometimes stop by at the older's house just to admire it. when he was able to breathe, he walked through the gates and stopped in front of the door, hesitating to either knock or ring the doorbell. it took him a few minutes to finally decide to ring the doorbell. he pushed the circular doorbell with his forefinger and the door immediately swung open, revealing a certain blonde who looked quite grumpy.

"and what took you so long? you're like twenty minutes late and the others already arrived before you," the small chinese boy huffed and looked at the korean up and down, noticing how disheveled he looked which made him raise an eyebrow, "by the way, did you run all the way from your house?"

"no shit, of course i did," the korean rolled his eyes at the other who smiled a little.

"well anyway, you can come in and follow me upstairs where the other shits are camping. also, we'll be doing homework before we have any form of free time," the chinese turned around and started heading upstairs, expecting the other to follow him.

"my brain cells are almost gone and i used all my stamina to get here. you can't do this to me," jaemin whined, stepping into the house and taking his shoes off on the shoe racks.

"too bad."

when the two of them got to renjun's room, jaemin was immediately greeted by donghyuck in the most sarcastic way he could think of, making him roll his eyes once again. ("well, well, well. we're so glad to have someone arrive so _early_ ," donghyuck sarcastically greeted and leaned on his elbow on the study table while jisung sighed who unfortunately, sat next to him.) aside from that certain shithead, jaemin had noticed the room that belonged to renjun had somewhat drastically changed by the slightest. the last time they visited his house was two weeks ago before exams crashed on their weekend. to say the least, the blonde's room was actually aesthetically pleasing with the vanilla scented atmosphere and the small pots of living cacti that rested on the window ledge where the sun was shining on. the walls were repainted to a cream color and things were rearranged such as his desk in front of his big ass window, window curtains redesign, a large chinese evergreen plant in the corner of the room, and much more. last time, his room was black and looked somewhat too emo for him but renjun had stated that he liked his room to be simple and didn't want to be too decorative. jaemin looked around before sitting in front of the white floor study table, admiring the new aesthetic the boy had decided to settle to. he thought the older was adorable, especially having a huge moomin plush on his white sheet bed with many more moomin related items to snuggle with. renjun had noticed the younger looking at his room and his face flushed pink, since when did he become interested in his room anyway?

he shook the thoughts away and tried to get the tinged color on his cheeks to die. after doing so, he cleared his throat before speaking, "anyway, let's get your shits together and we can figure out which homework we have and maybe we can help each other with it."

everyone got themselves comfortable once again before getting their bags and getting their homework and textbooks out, or basically anything their homework required. by the looks of it, the youngest out of the four, jisung, had the most homework since he had about five or six papers stacked on the corner of the study table while donghyuck and jaemin had at least two assignments aside from the essays they have to type out. however, renjun had only one assignment because he had done all the easy assignments during school hours like a good kid. the other three couldn't relate though.

"you have got to be kidding me right now" jisung sighed and looked through the stacks of his homework, looking distressed as ever. time for hell to commence.

 

 

 

turns out, their studying session took at least two or three hours by the looks of jisung's dead hand and his dead looking facial expression. jaemin rested his entire upper body on the desk from brainpower overdrive after renjun had lectured and nagged the shit out of him and donghyuck to work on bits of their essays so they wouldn't have to work on it all in one by the time it was due. usually, their study session would take at least an hour depending on how small their homework piles are but "school was being a bitch" donghyuck had remarked, especially to jisung. to be fair, it was the end of exams and they should lessen the homework amount by a bit. everyone had cleaned up and put all their junk in their school bags and stretched their numb body limbs, relaxing before the chinese boy made an announcement after he put his bag on his bed.

"since we finished our homework, shall we pick up our asses and go to the beach?" he formally asked as he grabbed his cute moomin beach bag from his bed.

"FUCKING FINALLY," donghyuck exclaimed, almost too dramatically and grabbed his warm colored beach bag.

the boys had collected their beach bags and gone downstairs to the living room, sitting down with jaemin on the couch next to renjun who's next to donghyuck. meanwhile, jisung had decided that he would sit on the floor in order to stretch his long limbs that were sore after doing his homework. jaemin was unfortunately in charge of checking the supplies down off the list that was given by renjun and a pencil. he started reading the list over which had cute handwritings on it from the older boy. wait, why did he even think his handwriting was cute? 

"do we have any sunscreens?" the pink haired boy looked up from his list and looked at everyone to see if they have sunscreens. he could always check inside their bags but he knew well that they probably have a shit ton of things and the sunscreens could've been buried in the bag within other shit.

"yup," the multi-colored brunette grabbed his red and orange blended beach bag and rummaged through it. he took out his sunscreen spray resulting to the blonde next to him to snatch it from his hand. "HEY, THAT'S MY ONLY SUNSCREEN YOU FU-"

"you should use mineral sunscreen because there's a possibility that you can inhale chemicals into your lungs while spraying it on. plus, mineral sunscreen is safe since it doesn't contain anything harmful and doesn't absorb into your skin," the pink haired boy watched as the blonde reached into his white moomin beach bag. he grabbed out extra mineral sunscreens and handed one to the other, "mineral sunscreens are also effective in blocking uva rays."

"that was unnecessary information, hyung," the orange-haired boy mumbled, rubbing his temples to avoid further headaches.

renjun looked at the orange haired boy and sighed, "hey, at least i'm providing information that you all need when it comes to sunscreens."

"sunscreens... check," jaemin giggled as he checked the item off the list. he heard donghyuck whine at his sunscreen spray being abandoned and complaining.

"okay, but what if this isn't fucking waterproof? we'll be in the water," the korean held the white bottled mineral sunscreen that he was given.

the chinese rolled his eyes before taking his wrist into his hand, taking the sunscreen and flipping it so the label is facing to him. he pointed at the small description that said it's waterproof, "dumbass, it says right here it's waterproof. i'm not that dumb to give away sunscreens that  _aren't_  waterproof."

they all continued going through their items and completing the list until it was five. everyone had packed up all their necessities for the beach. well, it wasn't like it was really hot outside but it was warm and renjun, being the aggressive hen, he made sure everyone had  _mineral_ sunscreens in their bags as well as buying some for themselves. after lecturing them, jisung and donghyuck got sore ears and only processed that they had to apply the mineral sunscreens on after the older had passed out extras to everyone else to use. since renjun was the oldest out of everyone, they all got on his black kia sorento car with donghyuck in the shotgun seat and jisung and jaemin in the passenger seats. donghyuck was still questioning why he had to get a seven-seat car since there were only four of them, but renjun only said it was in case if they ran out of any room or they happen to have a guest. while he was driving the car, the others were lucky he was a decent driver even though he had gotten his driver's license when he turned nineteen and got approval that he can have a car. if he wasn't, then all of them would've been dead by now.

they usually relied on him to be the one driving, after all, he was their only driver in the group. sure, jaemin and donghyuck should've gotten a car by now since they're nineteen, but their parents didn't trust them yet, afraid that they will accidentally break a car rather than crashing into a lamppost. the drive was at forty-five minutes long and the boys occupied themselves by singing to songs from donghyuck's playlist on premium spotify after claiming for the aux cord. ("this is the benefit of getting shotgun, my gays," donghyuck flicked his imaginary long hair.) the drive went smoothly despite the oldest getting his license a week ago. by the time really bad boy by red velvet ended, they were already at the beach. the chinese boy parked the car in a nearby park and turned the engine off, getting the keys out. everyone grabbed their bags before getting out before renjun locked the car with his keys.

"oh wow, it's actually somewhat warm," jisung hoisted his bag on his shoulder, squinting when the sunlight hit his face and his skin basked in the warmth.

"does anyone have any flip-flops or any light shoes?" renjun made sure they all had something their feet can wear. he was very cautious that there might be sharp objects in the sand and one of them happen to step on one and get hurt. that's the last thing he wanted anyway.

"obviously. i wouldn't want to walk on hot sand," donghyuck rolled his eyes as he lifted his foot to show his black hollow out backless shoe, "actually, i'm pretty sure everyone already wore any light shoes so we're good."

"but the sand isn't even that hot?" jaemin piped in.

"i don't want to fucking toast my feet again like the last time, now shut the fuck up na jaemin."

after they were done talking, they went to the nearest public bathroom to change into their swimwear or simply their beach outfit. luckily, no one was using any stalls so they had the last four stalls to themselves, talking shit to each other as they change. another good thing was that the stalls were actually  _clean_ and not shit stalls based on donghyuck's experience of using a public bathroom. he had once told them that he saw dried up period blood on the tiled floor during their sleepover at renjun's house. story to short, jisung was forever scarred and was educated on what period blood was, jaemin was forever disgusted, and renjun just wanted to clog his ear holes with cotton swabs—but he also kicked donghyuck off his bed.

"do you guys remember that one story i told you-" before donghyuck got to finish his sentence, he was cut off by jisung kicking his calf from under the stall walls and into donghyuck's stall. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!"

"THAT'S FOR SCARRING ME EVER SINCE OUR SLEEPOVER," jaemin heard him raise his voice to match with donghyuck's and began ranting how scarring and absolutely disgusting it was. "I DON'T KNOW THE FUCK HOW BUT HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT THIS?"

"IT WASN'T MY FUCKING FAULT I WANTED TO CHECK MY DAMN MAKEUP."

on the other hand, renjun had to listen to all the bullshit that's happening while he's changing, "this is why you need your own compact mirror."

jaemin softly chuckled as he listened into the conversation. he changed out of his tee and black skinny jeans before rummaging into his bag to find his beach attire. he threw on his white tank top with a red floral dress shirt and a black swim trunk, but he left his red floral dress shirt unbuttoned to have his white tank top peek through. he wore his old grey sidewalk surfers and packed his clothes into a plastic bag and closed it tightly. he stepped out of his stall and saw that the others were still changing. he sighed and checked his phone to see that it was currently close to ten.

"can you guys actually hurry up?" too bad they couldn't hear him because of the constant bickering mainly between the two stalls—donghyuck and jisung's—that was, unfortunately, next to his stall. he sighed and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and his bag hanging off of his arm. the pink haired boy closed his eyes for a minute until he heard a stall door open, making him open his eyes. he saw the blonde male stepping out in his oversized white shirt and patterned beach trousers. he wouldn't be lying if he was to say that the small male looked absolutely adorable in a heart squeezing way. is it wrong to think your best friend is cute? maybe not.

"are you done staring?" the blonde walked over to the pink haired male, his black sandals thudding against the bathroom tile floors. he snapped his fingers in front of his face until the younger snapped out of his trance.

"of course, i was just saving a mental picture in my head to remind myself how cute you actually are," the younger slyly smirked when the older got flustered and went all beet red.

"we can hear you two flirting you know," donghyuck interrupted their moment after he stepped out of his stall. renjun got even redder while jaemin's smirk grew wider.

after jisung was changing into his short-sleeved shirt, water shoes, and swim shorts that somehow matched the color scheme with donghyuck's, everyone exited the public bathroom with their bags and began walking on the path to the beach. as they were nearing to the beach, they already saw several people either relaxing on the sand and socializing or playing in the water. jaemin stretched and sighed in content, letting the warmth seep into his skin while was double checking his bag in case if he's missing an item. once they settled on the beach, particularly an area where there were still people but not as crowded, they neatly placed their beach towels next to each other as jisung stabbed at least two umbrellas into the sand. ("aggressive much?" the sun-kissed boy snorted.) the four boys managed to rest under the umbrellas and away from the sun's glares and were currently discussing their plans. it took a good ten minutes to decide what they'll be doing which was swimming but renjun agreed that he wouldn't be swimming and just sit in the shade.

 

ˠˠˠ

 

jeno was having difficulties in figuring out how to fasten this unfamiliar bag. he was given this bag by mark who had called it a "beach bag." the boy, of course, was clueless of what a "beach bag" was. it sort of resembled as a satchel but it was completely different. hell, it was completely different from a satchel he used back at home. when he used a satchel, he had only needed to fasten the coral rings onto the ropes and tightening it in order to secure the satchel. he had successfully put his necessities into the bag, but all he needed to do was fasten it, somehow. he sat on his bed with the beach bag on his lap, examining it from inch to inch. there was a strip of fabric on top with alloys attached to it to make it look like it had teeth. then, there was an oddly shaped rectangular alloy that was attached to the top of the fabric strip. the boy held it and gently pulled on it, figuring out its function. he hadn't noticed mark entering his room and giving him a look.

"uh, do you need help with that?" asked the canadian boy who continued watching him struggle to function with a beach bag. the korean boy looked up, nearly startling himself at the new presence in the room.

"y-yeah," the korean boy handed the beach bag over to him and he watched how he easily zipped it up. it made him gasp in awe and his eyes left sparkling with millions of curiosities hidden each sparkle. "hyung! how did you do that?"

"i'm assuming that you have never used this before?"

"not ever. i've never seen this type of transportable container before!"

it took at least two minutes to explain what a normal, regular bag is in the human world to jeno. mark though, he clearly wasn't that good with explaining things, especially the simplest things. but good thing jeno understood what he meant anyway because he only nodded and grabbed the bag, letting the strap rest on his left shoulder. this was normal between the two boys ever since the  _incident_ happened last week and thank the poseidons, the boy didn't seem bothered by the  _incident_.

 

 

 

 

 

it was a perfect, warm afternoon. it was a week, a free week before hell ruptured with the exams that had jeno stressed out. it's not like he was dumb or anything, but he basically had all the knowledge after being raised and educated well so it wasn't too bad on his part. humans and merpeople do learn and have education on all of the same subjects and materials for school. however, he would sometimes have to act like he was clueless around a certain boy, mark, so he wouldn't raise any suspicion. but is it suspicious if you appear  _too_ smart? jeno wasn't sure but he didn't want to risk it anyway, it'll be a hassle to lower the suspicion. plus, he really didn't want any more on his already filled plate which was occupied with stressing and being anxious for the exams. he knew that high schoolers do dread over this "hellish" thing to ever exist but he wondered if it was far worse than what he took which are called trials. he sighed to himself and leaned farther back into the comfortable couch, fiddling with his fingers as his eyes focused on the illuminated screened box of what it's called television. or just for short, tv based on what mark had told him when he had moved in the dorms. it did take a while to adjust to how to use the remote control on the television because it just looked like a piece of silicon. and he wasn't wrong though.

the sunlight that peeked through the curtains of a window kissed his cold hands and his other body parts such as his perfect, sculptured face. jeno sighed in content, already forgetting the stress he had been dwelling on due to the exams and going over the learned materials over his head and taking wild guesses of what will be on the exams. he did overhear the exams will take at least a week or just in the middle of the week by many students he walked past by. hopefully, he heard it right since he heard giggles and squealing from the small group of female students that he walked past by. but other than that, he was lost in his own thoughts, the sound of the television drowned out from his own inner thoughts. it was apart of his hobby, usually stressing out but then letting his mind drifting off elsewhere to help him calm down.

"...jeno!" 

jeno heard his name being called and he quickly snapped out of his trance, whipping his head around to find the source of the voice. he finally looked over behind the couch he was sitting on and saw his friend standing by the doorway with his dorm keys, calling out for his name. 

"geez, i thought you were off into outer space," mark chuckled at the younger boy who flushed pink from embarrassment, "anyway, i was gonna ask you if you want to come with me to the library and study for our biochem test, and possibly for the exams?"

biochem test? oh! he had forgotten about that since all he had been thinking about were the exams, but jeno was fine with biochem. he was good at every single subject anyway, and a test like that was simple for him.

"s-sorry. anyway, it's fine though, i don't want to bother you anyway," jeno answered back before giving a soft smile at his friend, "and i'll manage fine. i just have to study a bit more for my exams and i should be good."

"man, i wish i can be a smartie like you," mark said as he was currently putting on his black shoes. "but yeah, are you sure though? i'll be gone for around two or three hours."

"yes, i'm sure. i can make you dinner if you want when you get home?"

the black-haired boy just only shook his head and grinned at the younger. he's too nice for his own good. "you don't have to, but if you want to then sure."

and that was the end of their conversation with the older leaving their dorms to go to the library that was on the other side of the building. the alone boy sighed and ruffled his hair, continuing to watch the cartoon that was being displayed from the electric box. although, mark will be away for a while which he didn't mind. it's just that he didn't know what to do when he's alone and usually he would read books from his mother's library, possibly reading an interesting book that was on the upper shelf. but since he didn't bring some of her books with him to read in the meantime, he was stuck with human books and mostly, they were boring sappy love books. there were some that were interesting such as thriller books but there were some particular things that he couldn't understand within the book's context. probably because he doesn't have enough knowledge of the human world. 

but what would he do anyway? there wasn't much. he could be "playing games" like other humans would do to kill time but he didn't want to break a computer from his lack of knowledge in human technology. usually, he would play with the marine life and just try to waste as much time as he can. but he couldn't really do that. however, there was one thing he could do: taking a relaxing, warm bath. to be fair, it's been a long time ever since he got to splash around with his very own tail rather than his legs, so perhaps he can do it now that his canadian friend was gone. the korean boy grabbed the remote control that rested next to his lap and turned off the television, still fascinated that the box can suddenly turn off, blacking out whatever is being displayed with the press of the power button on the remote control. he carefully placed the silicon controller on the coffee table and went to the bathroom that was next to his room. after entering the bathroom, he grabbed a white fluffy towel that hung on the rack and placed it on the sink counter as he prepared the bathtub with warm water. he was quite sensitive to very cold water and favored for warm water, especially hot water because he didn't mind hot water. once turning the faucet on, he left it on for several minutes with the sound of water splashing into the tub. jeno turned the faucet off and started stripping his clothes off, not wanting to get his pants and boxers wet for sitting in the bathtub.

he then neatly folded his clothes next to the towel on the sink counter and then took his bracelet charm off, setting it on top of his folded clothes before gently dipping his feet into the tub full of warm water. he could feel his toes tingling and he wasn't fully in the water yet. once sitting down with his back resting against the bathtub and closing his eyes, the tingling sensation spread up to his legs followed by a soft glow that he could see behind his closed eyelids. after opening his eyes, his legs were now replaced with his night sky tail with sharp yet frilly fins. he really missed the feeling of his tail, finally being free after hiding himself. but since his tail was too big for the bathtub, he decided to let it rest on the side of the bathtub.

"i wonder what it feels like to live... as a human," the merboy mumbled to himself, swirling the warm water with his forefinger absentmindedly. he slowly closed his eyes and sank a little into the water, dozing off in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. eventually, everything became black and he was out, for now, perhaps a short nap in the bathtub. maybe he's been too tired after stressing and thinking too much about school when he should relax, but it's not like he could help it.

at least an hour and a half passed because by now, it was around eight pm and the door of their dorms was opened with a key and it made the sleeping boy in the bathtub wake up abruptly. of course, he had sensitive ears and he could easily pick up sounds from afar and he was able to hear the door open and the sound of footsteps settling in their dorms. he assumed it was mark, but why was he back so early? and that's where he started to panic. or more like fully panic.

"jeno? i'm home! the library had to be closed early," the canadian's loud but not too loud voice bounced off the walls and jeno could hear him loud and clear. well, for him at least.

he wasn't close to the bathroom yet, but he had to change back  _now_. he quickly attempted to get out of the bathtub but it was slippery and he ended up falling down on the tiled floor, knocking bottles of shampoos and necessities down with him with his spacious tail that flailed after he made his fall. thus, it caused a loud crashing and thud noise which probably caught his friend's attention from outside. he winced in pain and tried to get back up, only realizing he couldn't.

"dude, is everything okay over there??" the boy who had heard the crashing noise started becoming concerned for his fellow friend. it seemed like it came from the bathroom, judging by the way the sound echoed. mark then took his shoes off and began heading towards the bathroom.

 _oh no, oh no, oh no._ he was in a lot of trouble. the brunette frantically tried to reach for the towel that was on top of the counter. it was the only way to dry himself, but unfortunately, it was far from his reach and there was no other towels or paper towels to dry himself fully. he could clearly hear the footsteps getting closer and closer and  _oh shoot_ , he forgot to lock the bathroom door once he looked at the unlocked door. he could come in any moment now and see the state he's in. everything happened too fast for the poor boy to process because the door to the bathroom opened and it revealed a shocked black-haired boy standing by the doorway while looking at him. he even watched the way he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times, checking to see if he was hallucinating or not.

"please tell me i'm seeing things," the confused black-haired boy finally spoke.

"i-i can explain..?"

 

 

 

 

it took some time for jeno to contemplate until he spoke up, nervously. "hyung? are you perhaps weirded out by me?"

before mark could leave his room, he turned around after his timid friend talked. he raised an eyebrow at him, "what makes you say that, jen? i mean, you're my friend and all and i'm not  _that_ weirded out. but i'm just weirded out that it's actually real. plus, i'm fascinated by these kinds of stuff anyway, so don't worry about it."

"really..?" and then slowly, the smile grew on jeno's face along with his eyes turning into cute sets of crescents. he felt relief and joy overflow his heart and the burdened feeling disappeared immediately. he was quite worried his only ever trusted  _human_ friend would judge him and possibly leave and bully him. mark, on the other hand, smiled back and walked over to the younger boy, ruffling his hair.

"don't ever think i'll just leave you over some simplest or secretive things, okay? now come on, let's go to my car and i'll drive us to our part-time jobs."

"please do explain to me what a 'car' is, mark hyung."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall i was supposed to update this over the weekend bUT ao3 dECIDED TO CRASH ON ME and my stuff i had typed out was g o n e and i had to retype them 😔😔😔


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